Wednesday, June 6, 2007

777 miles in 77 days by 7th July

Four friends will end up in London at the start of the Tour de France after cycling between seven former prologue cities. And it's to raise money for World Bicycle Relief and Jole Rider

The friends call their cycling group ‘allsevens’ and aim to put 200 bicycles into Zambia via World Bicycle Relief this year.

“The outpouring of support has been tremendous,” said Nigel Taylor, one of the four team riders. “When we started we thought 100 bikes would be a challenge; now we think we can achieve double that.”

Taylor, of St. Louis, and three friends – Chris Davey of Bath, England, and Bert Berla and Mark Neuman of St. Louis – plan to ride 777 miles across 7 countries in 7 days, visiting 7 Tour de France Prologue cities on their way to London, where this year’s Tour kicks off on July 7: 07/07/07.

Taylor and Davey conceived the ride as a challenge, and very quickly saw its potential.

“We wanted this to be more than just another ride,” Taylor said.

“We immediately began to research possible fundraising and awareness opportunities.” In the US, the group is raising contributions for World Bicycle Relief; in England, for Jole Rider, a charity which refurbishes used donated bikes and then gives them to secondary schools in Gambia.

World Bicycle Relief provides culturally appropriate bicycles to those who need them, including establishing assembly and maintenance training in the countries in which it serves, and working with manufacturers to improve indigenous bicycle technology. The current programme provides bicycles to volunteer, community-based HIV/AIDS caregivers in Zambia at a cost of $109 per bicycle.